Rothstein abused wife, friend alleges in court documents

Scott Rothstein was not only South Florida's most notorious con man, he was also a wife abuser, according to recently filed court documents.

The peek behind the curtain into a wealthy but criminal household was included in a legal memorandum filed Oct. 31 by Fort Lauderdale attorney Alvin Entin on behalf of his client, Stacie Weisman, who he termed a "best friend" of Rothstein's wife, Kim.

The documents depict Rothstein as a secretive, controlling man who terrorized his wife, cheated on her and, on at least one occasion, struck her. For her part, Kim Rothstein had been squirrelling away jewelry and was planning to leave her husband in the days before his $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme imploded in late October 2009.

Both women will be sentenced Nov. 12 on charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice for attempting to hide more than $1 million in assets — including a 12.08-carat yellow diamond — from federal agents and bankruptcy trustees.

In the 29-page filing, Weisman, now 50, recounted how she was friends with Kim Rothstein before Kim married Scott Rothstein in January 2008. A little more than a year had passed, however, before Kim Rothstein started confiding her fears to her friend.

"Kim would call Stacie crying, complaining of Scott's infidelity and abuse," the memo stated. "Kim told Stacie she was all alone, she was afraid, and she felt she was in danger, notwithstanding the bodyguard Scott had hired to watch her."

Rothstein "locked everything up," Kim Rothstein told her friend, adding that she was not protected by a prenuptial agreement.

In the summer of 2009, scant months before Rothstein's scheme would unravel, Weisman went out with the couple for dinner. "Kim was upset because Scott was paying attention to another woman," the filing said. "Kim called Stacie the following day to tell her Scott had hit her when they arrived home after dinner."

In late October, with authorities closing in, Rothstein flew to Morocco. His wife, along with Weisman, thought he was in New York. That's when she planned her escape.

"Kim told Stacie she was going to leave Scott and asked her to hold some of her jewelry," the court document said. "Kim told her Scott would never give her anything in a divorce."

Included among the jewelry was the oversized yellow diamond Scott Rothstein had bought for $400,000 the previous year.

Weisman held on to the diamond and other jewelry even as federal agents, seeking the fruits of Scott Rothstein's fraud, served a search warrant on his home in November 2009. Kim Rothstein also lied to authorities by saying she had turned over all her husband's assets, according to the charges against her.

"Stacie had initially accepted the jewelry because her friend decided to pursue a divorce," the filing said. "And she later began to help her friend sell it so [Kim] could pay her legal fees."

The subterfuge over the jewelry is what led to the women's upcoming sentencing.

Wesiman "has come to understand that slowly, foolishly, but with no other motive than to help her desperate friend, she allowed herself to become involved in this offense," her lawyer wrote.

Scott Rothstein is serving 50 years in an undisclosed location. He is cooperating in several investigations in hopes of reducing that prison term.